Wheel loader vs Compact track loader

mike_belben · November 09, 2020, 01:33:52 PM

Since skidders are so fast i think a crawler would have to pull about 4x as much wood per turn to make any sense, and the only way it could do that in my mind is with a grapple trailer. If it made one pass solo winching buttlogs to the trailside and then another pass with the trailer rounding it up i think things would move along okay. Thats my plan anyway for when my son gets older. Load the trailer, have my boy hitch with tractor, road back to the house while i go back in with the crawler loader and prep the next round until he comes back.

Not practical for everyone but i have 2 crawlers and no skidder or knuckleboom or log truck.

barbender · November 09, 2020, 02:34:04 PM

This area used to have a lot of of "drays" as they were known. A crawler pulling a trailer, that had a loader on it. They were cable loaders at first, but then went to hydraulic loaders. Then cable skidders started making headway, and that era ended. These trailers weren't very big, maybe 2 cord capacity.

K-Guy · November 09, 2020, 02:58:50 PM

Quote from: mike_belben on November 09, 2020, 10:08:52 AMMy 742 bobcat is not allowed to go more than 50ft off the driveway, its has a dandy self bury feature.

Been there, done that!! :-[

They are great on hard ground but nothing else.

mike_belben · November 09, 2020, 03:11:14 PM

Quote from: barbender on November 09, 2020, 02:34:04 PM
This area used to have a lot of of "drays" as they were known. A crawler pulling a trailer, that had a loader on it. They were cable loaders at first, but then went to hydraulic loaders. Then cable skidders started making headway, and that era ended. These trailers weren't very big, maybe 2 cord capacity.

Ive never seen one in person or for sale, really only one or two by searching for images. I think one was a guy on FF with like a 350 sized crawler that pulled 3 sleds in tandem.
In good ground i would like to think a 450-650 size machine could pull a lot of wood if it was on walking beams and chubby tires. But never been able to find anyone who could confirm or deny. Not that it matters for me, i always make what i got work pretty well.

Edit.. Found him. Says 7 cord per trip.
John Deere 350 with Gafner Loader - Old School Logging - YouTube

Edit2.. And then theres michigan. The undisputed champs of overloading stuff for atleast a century.

Shorpy Historical Picture Archive :: A Big Load: 1890s high-resolution photo

hedgerow · November 09, 2020, 03:16:44 PM

Had a smaller to mid sized older wheel loader years ago that we used on the farm and in our timber. It worked well but after we got our first skid loader it went down the road. I too like the steel over the tire tracks and have found they work the best for me in our timber. Went to high flow skid loader in 2011 so I could run a tree saw with a three foot blade. I cut all my stumps off below ground level when I am cleaning up the pastures and fields. Probably won't ever have another wheel loader.

Southside · November 09, 2020, 09:37:07 PM

Quote from: Don P on November 09, 2020, 08:07:38 AMon the Lull forks a couple of weeks ago carrying it across what I thought was firm ground when I started to have that sinking/slipping feeling.

Buried mine last fall. Had a heifer find a spring hole and the only thing I had that could get to her was the Lull. Set it on the best spot I could get to, boom and carriage out all the way, made a harness using strapping and was able to lift her out. It was funny ground, on her left side I could stand there with no issues, stepped over her and sank to my waist instantly. Luckily she was a quiet girl and cooperated with getting her out of there. So then I went to get the Lull out - ummm,,,, no, not gonna happen, she was to the axles in a heartbeat. Needed the skidder to pull that out.

On a good note I went back to that spot when it was somewhat dry and opened it up to dig a pond, excuse me, a natural watering spot. Spring runs about 30 gallons a minute and below the top soil is nice, gray, lime - technically Marle, but the PH is 8.5 or so, basically wet lime. So now I have my own lime pit. Dug another hole maybe 1,000 feet behind that one, down as far as my Kobelco 909 will go and same thing, so I figure I have 15-20 acres of lime. Down 15' or so the stuff is so compacted that it comes up in chunks that feel like lime stone. It's heavy, but 300 HP worth of JD green and a slinger spreader handles it just fine. Actually need to spread a bunch before the end of the year.

barbender · November 09, 2020, 09:40:07 PM

Mike, that dozer is the basic idea. A lot of them had the loader mounted on the trailer, I see them on Craigslist from time to time. It was well before my time when they were working the woods.

Don P · November 09, 2020, 10:04:07 PM

Neat. One of my shirttail ancestors had a plantation on the James called Marleborne. He bought it as worn out ground and brought it back to production by incorporating marl into the tobbacco spent soil. Pretty much the first ag liming in the US, or at least in the south, he didn't get up north much :D.

Sedgehammer · November 09, 2020, 10:26:41 PM

Quote from: Southside on November 09, 2020, 09:37:07 PM
Quote from: Don P on November 09, 2020, 08:07:38 AMon the Lull forks a couple of weeks ago carrying it across what I thought was firm ground when I started to have that sinking/slipping feeling.

Buried mine last fall. Had a heifer find a spring hole and the only thing I had that could get to her was the Lull. Set it on the best spot I could get to, boom and carriage out all the way, made a harness using strapping and was able to lift her out. It was funny ground, on her left side I could stand there with no issues, stepped over her and sank to my waist instantly. Luckily she was a quiet girl and cooperated with getting her out of there. So then I went to get the Lull out - ummm,,,, no, not gonna happen, she was to the axles in a heartbeat. Needed the skidder to pull that out.

On a good note I went back to that spot when it was somewhat dry and opened it up to dig a pond, excuse me, a natural watering spot. Spring runs about 30 gallons a minute and below the top soil is nice, gray, lime - technically Marle, but the PH is 8.5 or so, basically wet lime. So now I have my own lime pit. Dug another hole maybe 1,000 feet behind that one, down as far as my Kobelco 909 will go and same thing, so I figure I have 15-20 acres of lime. Down 15' or so the stuff is so compacted that it comes up in chunks that feel like lime stone. It's heavy, but 300 HP worth of JD green and a slinger spreader handles it just fine. Actually need to spread a bunch before the end of the year.

Modern agricultural and aquacultural uses

Marl continues to be used for agriculture into the 21st century, though less frequently. The rate of application must be adjusted for the reduced content of calcium carbonate versus straight lime, expressed as the calcium carbonate equivalent. Because the carbonate in marl is predominantly calcium carbonate, magnesium deficiency may be seen in crops treated with marl if they are not also supplemented with magnesium.

Bruno of NH · November 12, 2020, 06:28:46 PM

Big Bob stays on hard ground till I find a set of steel over the tire tracks for it.
If it get stuck , I don't think it will make it up for air :D

Sedgehammer · November 12, 2020, 08:16:23 PM

Quote from: Bruno of NH on November 12, 2020, 06:28:46 PM
Big Bob stays on hard ground till I find a set of steel over the tire tracks for it.
If it get stuck , I don't think it will make it up for air :D

Prolly not going to happen. I searched. Tires too big. Was going to make a set from 1/2" chain. Never got too it, don't need now.

barbender · November 13, 2020, 12:55:24 AM

They've got to be out there, they ran tracks on the Bobcat/Clark skid steer feller bunchers. At least used ones.

Sedgehammer · November 13, 2020, 08:09:09 AM

Quote from: barbender on November 13, 2020, 12:55:24 AM
They've got to be out there, they ran tracks on the Bobcat/Clark skid steer feller bunchers. At least used ones.

Yes, they were available at one point, just I could not find any. Tire size is 16x19 - 12

Bruno of NH · November 13, 2020, 01:18:57 PM

There is a one owner Bobcat 975 for sale in Mass.
The 975 has John Deere power.
Comes with bucket, forks and backhoe
Looks super clean.
If I had the cash it would hit the yard.

snowstorm · November 14, 2020, 07:01:33 AM

Quote from: barbender on November 09, 2020, 09:40:07 PM
Mike, that dozer is the basic idea. A lot of them had the loader mounted on the trailer, I see them on Craigslist from time to time. It was well before my time when they were working the woods.

there is a forwarding trailer on graigs list me. there were quite a few around here in the 60.s usually a 350 deere